The Water Clans: Creationism
by x S u n F r o S t x
Summary: The other Clans leave, but RiverClan does not. The prey continues to flow. When a tsunamii wipes out their territory and everything the cats hold dear, they consider rebuilding the Clans and the pros and cons of doing so.
1. Allegiances

**Welcome to "The Water Clans: Creationism". This story is a rewrite of the other version. It will include (hopefully) better writing and more themes associated with life, therefore being improved on the whole. The storyline has been changed slightly from version one to represent more of my original idea. Hope you enjoy the changes! **

**A/N: Graymist's and Icewing's kits' names have been changed if they were just too unbelievable to be possible. Sneezekit = Shrewkit, Pricklekit = Thornkit. These allegiances are from Outcast, with the addition of Hawkfrost. **

**RIVERCLAN**

Leader: Leopardstar – unusually spotted golden tabby she-cat

Deputy: Mistyfoot – gray she-cat with blue eyes

Medicine Cat: Mothwing – dappled golden she-cat

_Apprentice, Willowpaw_

Warriors:

Blackclaw – smoky black tom

Voletooth – small brown tabby tom

_Apprentice, Minnowpaw_

Reedwhisker – black tom

Mosspelt – tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

_Apprentice, Pebblepaw_

Beechfur – light brown tom

Hawkfrost – dark brown tom with a white underbelly and ice blue eyes

Rippletail – dark gray tabby tom

Dawnflower – pale gray she-cat

Dapplenose – mottled gray she-cat

Pouncetail – ginger-and-white tom

Apprentices:

Willowpaw – brown tabby she-cat

Minnowpaw – sleek silver she-cat

Pebblepaw – dark brown tom

Queens:

Graymist – pale gray tabby she-cat, mother of Shrewkit and Mallowkit

Icewing – white she-cat with green eyes, mother of Beetlekit, Thornkit, Petalkit and Grasskit

Elders:

Heavystep – thickset tabby tom

Swallowtail – dark tabby she-cat

Stonestream – gray tom


	2. Chapter One: The Aftermath

Chapter One: The Aftermath

The quiet breathing of the RiverClan warriors said nothing of their ordeal. It spoke of a calmness that did not exist in their ranks, a calmness that did not befit the disaster that had occurred. If not for the stark panic present in their eyes, one could call the RiverClanners either insane or severely conditioned to deal with panicky, life-ending situations such as this one.

As they crested the hill, they made a long line of feline shapes. The weary bodies of the cats stiffened with shock as they looked at the land before them. Had they once called it their territory, their home? Was this truly where they had lived for generation after generation, continuing on as the other Clans left for better hunting? This was where they had stayed, proud as ever, the only Clan that was not suffering from lack of prey. The twolegs had disturbed the territories of ThunderClan, WindClan and ShadowClan; left with no choice, the Clans had chosen to leave, and had tried to get RiverClan to go with them. But proud as ever, RiverClan rejected the invitation. The river ran not only on their territory but in their blood and sang in their souls; there was no other place where they could feel as complete. And they had had no problems; as far as any cat was concerned, they had made the right decision. But the disaster of the night before now left many quaking in doubt, both in their decision and in their faith in StarClan.

A quiet wail of protest came from one of the tiny bundles clamped in a warrior's jaws. It was a kit, one of the five that the Clan had worked so hard to save. The sad, mournful sound reverberated in every cat's heart and made them think about what they had lost. Quiet despair and grief settled over the warriors like a fog.

The first cat to break the silence was, of course, Leopardstar. Their leader for many seasons forced herself to shake off the weariness that dragged her down. Out of sheer iron will she forced herself to speak.

"We will go down together, as one," she meowed commandingly, but there was an uncharacteristic note of softness in the usually imperious leader's voice. She understood how her cats would be taking the sight of their new territory; she had led them for seasons, after all, and had been deputy before that. So now she took the lead, striding confidently and as powerfully as she could at the head of her straggled Clan, sending out a silent message of strength.

Her Clanmates did not respond to her words; they were too shell-shocked to absorb much of anything right now. Before them, it looked as though a giant claw had come and uprooted all the trees. They lay downed, some of them piled up where they had caught and stopped moving into natural barriers. The ground itself was moist and spongy, with puddles of water in the deeper depressions. There were no signs of life; all was quiet, as though the world itself had frozen in shock.

A giant wave of water had come through the land and swept through as though the animals it crushed did not matter, as though it did not take notice of them and never would. It had chased the RiverClan cats with merciless fervor, and crushed everything in its path. The sheer force of the wave had uprooted trees; that in itself was enough to terrify and haunt the minds of RiverClan forever.

And worst of all, StarClan had not warned them.

As the cats took their first steps into their somehow familiar but at the same time unfamiliar territory, a gray she-cat with blue eyes lengthened her stride and caught up to her leader. She was Mistyfoot, deputy of RiverClan, and she was very worried right now. Like her leader, she was being as strong as possible; if she wasn't capable of handling stress in situations like this, she wouldn't have been picked for the job.

If she had been younger, or less experienced, she would have been questioning Leopardstar about what she planned to do – how were they going to feed the Clan and find the bodies of the cats that they had lost in the escape? Should they send some warriors to scout ahead? But no; she knew that the former could be asked at camp, and the latter would be a bad idea. The shock of seeing their beloved territory defiled by natural forces that were stronger than they had ever seen was easier to take together rather than alone. If Mistyfoot had learned anything through her life as a RiverClan warrior, it was that her Clan was strongest when they rose up together to confront a threat. Thus, she simply padded at the head for added support, to bolster her Clanmates' feelings and silently reassure her leader.

Leopardstar showed no sign of noticing Mistyfoot, but Mistyfoot didn't need a sign to know that her leader approved of her decision. The spotted golden tabby she-cat increased the length of her stride, picking up the pace. Mistyfoot followed, and behind them RiverClan went faster as well. All cats were dreading to see what their territory had become, but also eager to see what they had to live with now.

The ground evened out as they approached their island camp on the river. The pace was a quick run now; the warriors leaped over debris, the strength in their limbs returning as they focused on reaching camp rather than their suffering. But as they approached camp, all stopped once more.

Their beloved river was swollen, their camp much reduced in size. It was nothing more than a small floating patch of land, with rivulets of harsh flowing water around it. The thorn barrier that they had worked so hard to create to protect their camp had been washed away, as well as all the seemingly sturdy dens that had been painstakingly constructed for moons and moons. The Mossrock, where the leader of RiverClan had stood for generations to address his or her cats, was gone. Seeing the Mossrock, the icon of the Clan's leader and guiding voice, seemed to finally do the proud RiverClan warriors in.

The more emotional warriors wailed and yowled; the less emotional ones hissed in fury and loss. The younger kits set up a racking cry, wiggling in their savior's mouths. The older kits were silent with shock. The warriors carrying them set them down, and instantly RiverClan's two queens gathered around their respective progeny, inspecting them for hurt and nodding their thanks to the warriors that had carried them.

It took a lot of effort, but some cats managed to restrain their cries and remain strong. They were Leopardstar, Mistyfoot, Blackclaw and Reedwhisker. From the strength of these four cats, shocked silence eventually returned to the Clan. Grief abated as quickly as it had come; the surviving spirit of RiverClan filled every cat, making them feel as though they could get through this disaster.

In the echoing silence, a final wail punctuated the air. It came from Mothwing; the pretty golden dappled she-cat had spotted a dark tabby body in the nearby debris and had gone racing over to see if it was indeed who she thought it was.

"Hawkfrost…no," she half-whispered, half wailed. Her eyes contorted with even more shock and grief, as she stood facing the dead body of her brother. He was on top of another cat, a thickset tabby tom whom the Clan recognized as Heavystep. Hawkfrost had gone down fighting to save the elder.

Mistyfoot quietly padded to Mothwing's side, lending silent support to the RiverClan medicine cat. She stood by her side, and bowed her head in respect of Hawkfrost's sacrifice. At the same time as feeling quiet grief for the brave warrior in front of her, she also felt secretly shocked. Here she had banked on Hawkfrost being an ambitious murderer like his father; through his last act in life, he had proven that he was his own cat, and loyal and selfless in the end.

A brown tabby she-cat with green eyes padded to Mothwing's side as well. She was Willowpaw, the medicine cat's apprentice, and she, too, looked troubled. But the truly admirable thing about the apprentice was how she hid her sorrow; she calmly looked in her mentor's distressed voice and declared in a calm voice "Mothwing, we must tend to the Clan. They're in shock."

The voice of her apprentice seemed to reach Mothwing; the medicine cat stiffened, and then relaxed, swinging her head from side to side as though shaking off the thoughts of grief invading her. "You're right Willowpaw. Which cat needs the most help?" she meowed, her tone brisk but tainted with grief.

Mistyfoot padded away from the medicine cats, sensing that her support was not needed. She looked inquiringly at Leopardstar, who nodded and then turned to face her Clan.

"We will camp here tonight. I know that we are tired, and that we have just gone through a horrible ordeal, but we must take care of ourselves and the Clan first. If anybody is injured, see Mothwing or Willowpaw for treatment immediately. Blackclaw, if you could take two cats and go hunting that'd be great. Reedwhisker, I'd like you to take two cats and go hunting as well. If at all possible, see what you can hunt up in terms of nest material, herbs and prey."

The named cats nodded, and set about getting some cats to go with them. Leopardstar watched them with approval, and then continued giving out instructions. "Pebblepaw, Minnowpaw, help out the medicine cats and the queens," she meowed. The brother and sister barely managed to nod, still overcome by shock. Leopardstar knew that the familiarity of regular Clan duties would help soothe them.

What the leader did not mention, though, was searching for more bodies. RiverClan had lost not only Hawkfrost and Heavystep, but Swallowtail as well. Leopardstar thanked StarClan that they had not lost more, but still grieved for the ones that were now with her ancestors. She counted herself lucky that she had not lost more, especially the kits, but what could they do now? The golden tabby realized that a discussion with her deputy was seriously in order, and summoned Mistyfoot with a flick of her tail.

"We need to investigate the other territories and Fourtrees," she meowed, straight down to business. Mistyfoot nodded in agreement. Her blue eyes shone with determination.

"We're more likely to run into prey if we search a larger area, anyway," she pointed out. "Besides, it will be interesting to see how the…wave affected the other Clan's territories. Prey will be somewhere; if we managed to get away, they must have managed it somehow as well."

Leopardstar nodded in agreement. She already felt reassured of her Clan's survival by her deputy's words. "We also need to check Mothermouth," she meowed quietly. "If we lose our connection to StarClan…then we become nothing more than a band of rogues who live by a code that hardly matters without the other Clans anyway." The last part was said harshly, and Mistyfoot's eyes darkened with worry. Was her leader regretting one of her decisions? Arguably it would be the first time Mistyfoot had seen it occur; Leopardstar hadn't even regretted her former alliance with Tigerstar, or at least she hadn't shown it. Where was her leader's RiverClan spirit? Had it been clawed away along with the wave?

"We can check that out after we see what the other territories look like," meowed Mistyfoot as soothingly as she could. "We will reestablish our connection with StarClan, Leopardstar. I know that we will."

The leader didn't seem to hear her deputy's words; her eyes seemed clouded, far away. Mistyfoot wondered if she was reliving the previous night's disaster, feeling personally responsible for every death that had occurred even if there had been no way to prevent it.

"It's not your fault, you know," Mistyfoot meowed to her leader, feeling a bit uncomfortable as she did so. Her relationship to Leopardstar was deputy to leader, not friend to friend. The few times Mistyfoot had attempted to make contact, the proud RiverClan leader had turned her away, acting as though she didn't need the support that a closer relationship would provide. But maybe, just maybe, the she-cat was in denial, and actually needed that support that she had rejected for so many years. Many after this disaster, she would begin to develop more as a cat and become loved by her Clanmates not only for her strength, but for the loyalty of her friendship.

Maybe it wasn't too late for Leopardstar to change and become not just a good leader, but a great leader.

"Why didn't StarClan warn us?" the leader meowed, almost in despair.

Mistyfoot's mind filled with shock. She had never heard Leopardstar speak in such a depressed tone before.

"Have we lost StarClan's favor because we did not go with the other Clans? Are we doomed?" continued the leader, as though not noticing her deputy's shock. Mistyfoot's mind raced, looking for an argument that would combat Leopardstar's thoughts.

"Remember when ThunderClan's territory was set on fire? Their territory burnt away, and they received no warning from StarClan, but they still had their favor," meowed Mistyfoot, choosing her words carefully. "Be strong, Leopardstar, for our Clan needs us, and StarClan has not abandoned us, but is simply letting us grow."

Her leader did not reply; Mistyfoot thought that she was not going to, until she meowed "You are correct, Mistyfoot. You have become wise."

Her eyes when they looked at Mistyfoot now were full of quiet pride. Mistyfoot blinked, surprised. She hadn't known that her leader could look at her like that. To Mistyfoot, what she did was duty and love for her Clan; to be recognized had never crossed her mind. But here Leopardstar was, the proud leader recognizing her. Mistyfoot could do no more than meow "Thank you, Leopardstar," and be dismissed from her leader. She padded away, still shocked, and saw that the first hunting patrol was returning.

No cat held prey, and their eyes were glum, but they did carry plenty of material for nests. "At least RiverClan will sleep comfortably tonight, even though our bellies will be empty," thought Mistyfoot dryly. Her attention returned to the work at paw, though the memory of Leopardstar's recognition of her remained like a pawprint on her heart.

**Next chapter - a flashback to what actually occurred during the disaster that changed these cats' lives forever.**


	3. Chapter Two: The Disaster

Chapter Two: The Disaster

It was sunhigh; the warm golden glow of the sun overhead illuminated all in its path, painting the world a friendly shade of lightness. The mood was lighthearted; the dark brown apprentice Pebblepaw bounced excitedly alongside his mentor Mosspelt, who let her apprentice frolic about with a gentle look in her blue eyes. The other member of their patrol, the smoky tom Blackclaw, snorted with annoyance at the apprentice's antics, but seemed resigned. He, too, couldn't help but feel the youthful energy that Pebblepaw felt. It all came from the sun; its light energized the RiverClanners.

But nothing could energize them as much as their river. As the flickering blue water appeared before them, Blackclaw stepped up the pace, and like a young cat all three RiverClanners jumped into the river. It was a natural reaction for them; they were like fish born with legs, their true home in the water that bordered their territory.

Pebblepaw meowed happily as he treaded water, enjoying the cold water on his fur. It had been a hot and heavy day, after all. The patrol had been out hunting on land; now, they were in their river, and all morale lost from a hard day's hunting was being regained. Mosspelt splashed her apprentice with a good humored _mrow_, and Pebblepaw responded with a splash of his own. Blackclaw tread water as well, watching the current swirl around his body, and then made for the shore. There he crouched, eyes intently focused on the water, seeking out some fish to bring back for his Clan.

As he crouched, Blackclaw realized that he was on the ThunderClan side of the border. He was about to jump in the river and swim to the other side when he realized that ThunderClan was not there anymore. He was not trespassing, except on a ghost Clan's land. The absences of the other Clans used to excite the senior warrior; now, he felt lost without their presence.

There was no more glory in being a warrior. There were no more battles where one proved themselves willing to sacrifice their life for their Clan. There was only RiverClan, the last of the four Clans, a mere shell of themselves. Well fed they were, but their battle spirits were fading. All they had was the warrior code, and the RiverClan quarter of StarClan. When the other Clans had left, their respective ancestors had gone with them to cleaner skies. But RiverClan's ancestors loyally stayed. There had never been such a split in StarClan, or at least not that the cats remembered.

Blackclaw found himself caught up in old visions of glory. He was racing towards the Sunningrocks, rushing to take them back from ThunderClan. He had raced alongside Mistyfoot, Stonefur, Crookedstar, Leopardstar, or Leopardfur as she was known then…and here he was now, still alive, still a warrior, watching as he regressed in his battle spirit and pride as the legacy of the Clans wore away before his paws.

"Blackclaw! Blackclaw!"

The sound of his name jerked the warrior from his reminiscing. "What?" he snapped at Mosspelt, annoyed at being interrupted in his reliving of the past.

"The….river…" she meowed, sounding shocked and scared. Blackclaw stared at her in confusion, and then realized that the water before his paws was draining away. It was draining so quickly that Blackclaw couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it at first; how could he have been so ignorant?

Pebblepaw let out a wail of shock and confusion. He and Mosspelt scrambled up onto the bank on the RiverClan side. Bracing himself, Blackclaw jumped into the rapidly diminishing river and swam across to join them. Together they watched the river drain, up in one direction, towards...

"What…what is that?" asked Mosspelt shakily. Her blue eyes, formerly full of joy, now held only fear. This was something no warrior had ever seen before…perhaps something no warrior would ever see again.

"We need to get back to camp and warn the Clan," meowed Blackclaw, trying to sound calm, but even his voice was wavering and uncertain. He was just as confused as his Clanmates as to what exactly was going on.

"Come on, we need to go," he meowed forcefully when it seemed that neither Mosspelt nor Pebblepaw had any intention of moving, and never would again until they knew what was happening. And perhaps not even then, depending on the magnitude, would the two RiverClanners choose to get moving.

Thankfully to StarClan, Blackclaw's harsh tone seemed to snap them out of their shaken slumber. As one, the patrol turned and began to race back to camp. No longer did the sun gleam friendlily as before; in fact, the warriors hardly noticed its beauty and brightness as they ran back to camp. Like true Clan warriors, they were focused completely and utterly on their Clan in this time of oncoming crisis.

When they got to camp, it was in uproar. Being on an island, it was impossible for the cats not to notice the water draining away on every side. They seemed shell-shocked; in the history of RiverClan, nothing like this had ever happened. Leopardstar was sitting in the middle of camp, eyes narrowed and focused on the horizon, when Blackclaw and his patrol raced in. She noticed them immediately, eyes snapping to them with the authority of an unspoken command.

"We don't know what it is," meowed Blackclaw as quickly as he could in between breaths. "But we should get the Clan as far away as possible."

Leopardstar nodded in agreement. She stood up and yowled once, calling the Clan to her. As she did so, the sleek form of Willowpaw appeared from the medicine cat's den. The brown apprentice streaked across camp to Leopardstar and stood in front of her leader, panting.

"No message from StarClan, no warnings, for Mothwing or for me. We are on our own," announced the medicine cat apprentice seriously. She held Leopardstar's gaze evenly, until the RiverClan leader nodded in dismissal. Then Willowpaw ran across to the medicine cat's den again, disappearing inside to confer with her mentor on what to do with the herbs.

Leopardstar's proud, confident figure seemed to make her cats feel strong, too. They looked at her, eyes bright with uncertainty but also with expectation.

"Cats of RiverClan," began the she-cat. "An unknown threat is approaching us. For the safety of all, we are evacuating camp. I need all of you to help carry the kits, carry herbs for the medicine cats and help the elders. Mistyfoot and I will oversee this, so that we all get out of camp safely."

"Do you know what it is?" called a voice from in the crowd. Leopardstar recognized Dapplenose and focused her attention on her.

"We don't know. We don't know anything about this. However, all we need to know is that it would be a bad idea to be here when that….thing comes to pass."

"Do you know when we will return to camp?" asked another voice smoothly. It was Hawkfrost, his icy blue eyes emotionless as ever, though Leopardstar could detect tension in his body. It was tightly coiled like a spring ready to be unleashed, and quivering with energy.

"Whenever the thing has passed," replied Leopardstar evenly, eying Hawkfrost suspiciously. Hawkfrost was a clever warrior; such a question was beneath his intelligence. So why had he asked such an obvious question?

Hawkfrost nodded, and Leopardstar followed his gaze. It swept around the camp, examining every nook and cranny, and Leopardstar continued to watch with interest as his emotionless mask slipped and his blue eyes burned with a sudden, fierce love that shocked the leader to her core.

Love? Was Hawkfrost viewing the RiverClan camp with love? Was he worried about what would happen to it? Was Hawkfrost even capable of loving, even though he had flashed Tigerstar's famous ambition every now and then? Leopardstar didn't know what to think; this new revelation about her warrior interested and confused her.

The leader turned back to the crowd, and locked gazes with the keen eyes of her deputy. Mistyfoot had not seen what she had, but she had sensed that something had shocked her leader, and was looking at Leopardstar in concern. Leopardstar blinked her eyes once, and then looked away. She would tell faithful Mistyfoot later.

"Well, you heard me. Get to it!" she snapped, and strode towards the medicine cat den. She wanted to make sure that the Clan's healers got out safely; if anything happened to her Clanmates during their escape, they would all need Mothwing's skill.

The warriors of RiverClan worked quickly, taking comfort in the calm looks they exhibited for each other. Every now and then a warrior would catch eyes with one of his or her fellows and give a nod of reassurance. As such, the atmosphere was surprisingly positive as the RiverClanners prepared to evacuate.

The calm did not last for long.

A sudden yowl of terror was heard. Every cat snapped their heads around to that direction, eyes losing their calm mask and filling with suppressed fear. At the entrance to camp, the sleek silver apprentice Minnowpaw was bent into a crouch, her blue eyes wide with terror.

"The…sky…sun…oh StarClan…" she meowed, her voice quiet and tight with fear. The Clan followed her eyes and saw a huge mass of…something on the horizon. This something was crushing the strong, ageless trees of ThunderClan underneath its paws. It was coming straight for the RiverClan camp.

Terror exploded among the cats. As one, they turned to the entrance with whatever they were holding and sprinted away. The river had receded to such a level that they could wade across what was left of it at an astonishingly quick pace. As soon as they reached the bank they continued to run, not caring or noticing their Clanmates around them.

The cats of RiverClan were caught in a stupor. They did not live beyond the frantic beating of their own hearts, fueled by terror. Self preservation instincts, even if they had lain hidden for a long time, were revealed in a waterfall of horror, horror of the unknown.

At first, Leopardstar had run in a blind terror as well. The darkness cast by the thing rushing towards them was impossible to ignore, impossible to combat. An ancient instinct had been awakened in the RiverClan leader – the feral instinct to run. But as Leopardstar ran, naturally at the front as it was basically instinct to the leader to lead, she realized that she was blindly running away. She hadn't done this in all of her leadership – she was the proud, strong Leopardstar, after all. There was no reason for her to run, no reason to turn her head away from truth.

Ignoring all of her instincts, Leopardstar screamed to a stop and yowled a mighty yowl. The volume of it broke through the stupor the fleeing cats were in and they, too, screamed to a stop. They looked confused as to why they were stopping.

Leopardstar fixed each cat in the glare of her golden eyes. One by one, sanity and understanding trickled back into the eyes of her warriors. They were ready to continue. Leopardstar did not need to tell them what was wrong; the gleam of her eyes spoke louder than words ever could.

The RiverClan leader whipped around and took off, her Clan following in a very different manner from before. Now, there was organization, and sanity. Gone was the blindness of fear.

The wave was coming closer; Leopardstar could hear the crashing sound it made as it flattened all of their camps. She chanced a glance behind her and saw what looked like a curtain of blackness rushing towards her Clan. Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to go even faster. They just had to escape. RiverClan had to survive!

A sudden yowl of deep-throated fear and desperation came from the back of the fleeing Clan. The cats slowed down, wanting to discover what was wrong, but Leopardstar barked "Continue! I will deal with it!" in such a fierce voice that there was no choice but to listen to her. Mistyfoot blinked once at her leader before taking Leopardstar's position at the front. She led the cats in an unbroken stream onwards, towards some distant hills. Hopefully, if they reached the top, they would have cover from the monster chasing them.

Leopardstar raced to the back, where the thickset Heavystep was panting, a twisted paw held before him. Before she could even think of what to do, she heard the voice of Hawkfrost behind her.

"Go to the Clan Leopardstar. I'll take care of him," meowed the dark brown tom silkily. Leopardstar faced her warrior with surprise, not sure she completely believed or trusted him. Hawkfrost had always made his ambitions clear; Leopardstar half expected the tom to just kill her in the hopes of being named deputy when Mistyfoot became leader.

"Time is of the essence. Please, Leopardstar, you need to leave," pleaded Hawkfrost.

Leopardstar never thought she'd hear Tigerstar's son plead. Her shock induced her to numbly nod, and in a flash she was away and running. She would trust Hawkfrost with Heavystep. She needed to lead her Clan. Hawkfrost was right; time was something her Clan didn't have enough of today.

She caught up to them as they were cresting a hill, searching for higher ground. Panting, she padded up alongside Mistyfoot and nodded to let the gray she-cat know that she could take the lead. Her faithful deputy fell back gratefully, and Leopardstar took her position. With a yowl of encouragement, she continued to lead her Clan up the hill at a fast pace, while the sounds of destruction echoed from the forest behind them.

They had just reached the top of the hill when another horrendous cry echoed from the Clan. It was Mistyfoot that reacted this time. After exchanging a glance with her leader, the deputy raced to the back, where the dark tabby she-cat Swallowtail was obviously having difficulties. She looked exhausted; her sides heaved, and she was moving at a snail-like pace.

The wave was racing toward them; Mistyfoot knew that she didn't have much time. She placed her shoulder underneath Swallowtail's and half-shoved the elder up the hill.

"If we get to the top, we'll be out of reach. Please StarClan, please help us!" she begged under her breath. If Swallowtail heard her, she gave no sign of it. She was too busy trying to save her own life – and by reaching the top, she would also be saving the life of RiverClan's deputy.

They were nearing their destination now; only about five seconds had passed since Mistyfoot had gone back to Swallowtail. It just wasn't enough time, though. Mistyfoot glanced back in sheer terror as the black wave rose above them. It was trying to get them, trying to take their lives and destroy them like it had done the forest. With a yelp, she heaved Swallowtail one last time and then fell over the top, sprawling with her Clanmates.

The hill was like a cliff on the other side; it ended with a short drop at the top, back to level ground. Mistyfoot didn't ponder the weirdness of it; she was too busy heaving for air and trembling with exhaustion. The dappled golden Mothwing bustled over, obviously trying to keep herself busy lest she think of her brother's fate. Hawkfrost and Heavystep had not made it to the cliff. The Clan was praying to StarClan that, for the sake of the Clan and for Mothwing's happiness, Hawkfrost and Heavystep somehow managed to survive.

"Thank you Mothwing, I'll be fine," meowed Mistyfoot, heaving to her paws. She had to be strong for her Clan. Mothwing didn't look convinced, but still backed away to give the she-cat some space.

"How is Swallowtail?" inquired Mistyfoot. A look of horror spread across Mothwing's face.

"She was right behind me! She didn't make it?" asked Mistyfoot, shocked. She looked for Leopardstar, and saw the leader's grieved expression.

Mistyfoot remembered pushing Swallowtail up the hill, encouraging her, risking her own life for her.

"Nothing? It was worth nothing?" whispered the deputy. "Oh, StarClan, what have you done? Why didn't you warn us?"

Leopardstar looked up, listening to the sounds of distant crashing. "We will spend the night here," she meowed to her Clanmates, as though they had a choice not to. Her words were met with small nods. The Clan was unwilling to be expressive tonight, too shocked were they be the day's events.

"What would you have me do, StarClan? What do we do now?" wondered Leopardstar.

A different thought was running through Mistyfoot's mind.

"Was it fated that she would not make it? Or did I change destiny and make it my fault? Guide me, StarClan."

"Guide us all in our time of need."

**Thank you for the review Amber342 :) **

**What will RiverClan find as they explore how the tsunami has altered the territories? Find out in the Chapter Three: The New World! **


End file.
